A Great Dinner Night and Big City Lights

Everything seems to just be going by faster than the speed of light.

After a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, we met up with the Ivy League Connection team once again yesterday, Tuesday afternoon. I swear that I just thrill with excitement every time we meet up because our departure date just gets closer and closer.

My mother (Paola) and me.

This time we met up at the El Cerrito Plaza BART station. Now, I have only been on BART twice in my whole life so it was nice to step out of the usual car rides.

My wonderful mother was my partner for the night once again. We arrived at the station around 4;50 PM, Aimee and her mother were already there, and soon after our new chaperone, Ms. Cruzat arrived. both my mother and I introduced ourselves to her. A couple of minutes went by and the cohort was all there together with the companion of a couple ILCERS from previous years; Cynthia, Izabel, Thao, and Crystal.

I got to mingle and talk to Crystal Tse, who graduated from De Anza High School and is currently a student at Brown University who has recently finished her first year there. She described her first year great, and she said it went better than what she expected. Every time someone talks to me about Brown they always have something positive to say which makes me love the school more and more as if I have been there before.

We all had time to greet each other as we patiently waited for Don to arrived. He was little late for the first time with the exceptional reason that he had to give Komal and her mother a ride, but all that mattered was that we were all there.

Once we all checked in, it was time to catch the BART train to San Francisco.

BART Train to SF.

The table setting at Town Hall.

While we were on our way to the city I got to sit next to Thao, a current senior at Hercules High School who attended Brown in the summer of 2014. I got to ask her about her experience at Brown and what it was like for her while she was there. All the things she said made me more excited then ever. Thao had an amazing experience and gave me tips that can be helpful while I am at the East Coast this summer.

Soon after we arrived at San Francisco and we walked towards our restaurant for the night, Town Hall.

When we got to Town Hall, we all went straight for a drink. Then we sat in our assigned seats. I got the opportunity to sit at the same table with Komal, her mother Veena, Crystal, Don, and my mother (Paola).

At dinner we had many more important guest like Charles Ramsey and Madeline Kronenberg who are part of the WCCUSD Board, and many other ILC supporters were also there.

The menu for the night.

Madeline opened the dinner by welcoming us all and we all introduced ourselves one by one. Then she talked about the amazing things that students have gained from this program throughout the 10 years that it has existed. The alumni of Brown had a chance to also share their personal experiences while they were students there and it was so astonishing to hear the different but yet positive experiences. Komal was up next and she spoke from her heart about how grateful she was to be a part of the program which was so sweet. Then Crystal also spoke about her life changing experience at Brown.

After the amazing speeches and thankful appreciations it was time to dine!

It was my first time being at Town Hall and I believe that it's always great to taste new things. I have to say that the food was really good, it was definitely out of the norm of what I eat but it was very tasty.

Grilled Chicken, asparagus, rice, and sausages.

Dessert time!

After a great tasty diner I had the time to speak once again with Kiana Ward, who I had met before in my neighborhood while she was helping run a project. Kiana has been a part of a sheep grazing project to help stop illegal dumping around our city. Last night I unexpectedly got the chance to see her again and came to learn that she was also a Brown University alumni.

I learned a lot of things at dinner and I feel like the love of my supporting group grows everyday more and more. It was nice to hear and learn more about everyone's personal experience before and after attending Brown. I really cannot wait until I am there.

Sooner than I though it was time to end the night and what is better than Don closing up, he always knows what to say and really tied up the entire day.

Then of course we had to take our group shot and we made our way to BART and headed home after a great long night.

A night in the city of San Francisco.

The selfie of the night.